Customer Reviews

To Terra...Volume 1 (v. 1)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the manga boom tapering off, publishers are generally following two rules when it comes to licenses: nothing more than a few years old and nothing really long. Classic manga artist Keiko Takemiya's To Terra is over thirty years old, so its a minor miracle that we are seeing its first English edition. Although I was introduced to the artist through the more modern Clan of the Heavenly Horse, its easy to see from To Terra why Takemiya's work is considered a classic of the shojo genre. It's elegant, thought-provoking, and emotional.
Far in the future, Earth was nearly destroyed by human activities. For the planet to survive, human kind became strictly regulated by psychic, super computers that constantly monitor people's emotional state and decide their fates. Children are grown in labs, and kept segregated from adult society. Their foster parents are carefully selected to guide them through childhood. However, when they reach age 14, the computer gives them a maturity check that wipes away all their memories to remold them into model citizens of Terra, the home planet that only a chosen few ever get to set foot upon. To Terra follows to very different boys, trying to find there way if this hostile society.
Jomy Marcus Shin thought he was a normal boy. Secretly, he fears the maturity check, which is akin to an act of treason. He discovers that he is Mu, a physically frail, emotional race with ESP powers. The government wants him terminated as the Mu are not allowed to live. However, he is saved by a gang of Mu lead by Soldier Blue. And so begins his life among the Mu as they journey towards Terra.
Keith Anyan is a student at the adult re-education space station to prepare him for adult life as a Terran elite. He is not like the other young people. The Mother Computer rarely needs to even out his thoughts, and most troubling of all to Keith is that he can not remember his maturity check, something everyone else can. When one of his classmates becomes a Mu, Keith learns many shocking secrets about himself and the plans the Mother Computer has for him on Terra.
With the lives of the two set to intersect, will Jomy and Keith find themselves allies or enemies? Is Terra the promised land everyone thinks it is? I can't wait to find out.

"To Terra..." is a refreshing Story that is as important today as it was in 1977. The Art is unique, creative and genuinely epic. It's narrative is well developed, mature and really does an excellent job of developing multiple characters in grand design.
A worthy piece of Sci-Fi Manga that speaks in a prophetical manner.

I have never read sci-fi manga before..but that's not really the point of the series....it's just the setting. I rate this volume on the threshold of reading the third volume. There's a lot of introspection in this first volume and lots of set up. But you have to set the stage so it's a vital part of enjoying what is to come even if it's not as enjoyable as when the ball gets rolling. however. i highly recommend this manga, it deals with concepts that are above your typical manga fare. there are no girls in school uniforms or boys fighting little monsters here. The drawing is very beautiful,...but not as forceful as the intensity of the story may dictate. hang in there for volume 2!! it's completely worth it!

I got into Manga with Shonen Jump where one of my favorite's is Hikaru No Go (A Manga based around the board game GO, the same author also wrote Death Note...another good Manga). I've also read Dragon Ball and a number of the other serialized Jump Manga. I picked up To Terra on the recommendation/review of the Geek Nights podcast[...]

All that being said, this is by far the best Manga I've read to date. It goes into far more depth than any of the Shonen Manga will ever go and while they are entertaining To Terra just feels more well rounded and gives a much more solid read. The artwork is fantastic...particularly for a 20+ year old Manga. I guess if you can draw...well...then you can draw!

By all means pick this manga up if you enjoy a good storyline and good artwork which is pretty much the point isn't it?

A very compelling story that's told at a comfortable pace about two sides of a civilization that has been forced to leave Earth (Terra) and one side of that civilization finding the chosen one to lead them back to a world that they were banished from. This has very good art all throughout all though many of the male characters look feminine at times.

I haven't read too many manga translated into English, but this was by far the easiest to read. I was able to fly through this and I can't wait for Volume 2!!

I love this manga (all Keiko Takemiya's manga) but, I was much more moved by the anime ver.than manga.
Also,I think all the characters(especially, Keith Anyan) there are more attractively and carefully expressed.

I highly recommend to watch the anime version!

To Terra is one of the great classics from the 1970s, when manga artists/writers (especially women) were at their most creative and daring. I am so happy to see this important work available in English. Takemiya Keiko is one of the pioneers of shojo manga (girls' comics) but this isn't strictly a shojo story. It was first serialized in Gekkan manga shonen (Monthly Boys' Comic). It's more of a cross-over: action-oriented sci fi rather than romance, but the male characters all have the distinctive androgynous look. And like the best shojo manga, the story is a complex psychodrama of adolescence, in this case, in a society without mothers and fathers. The first volume starts out a little slow, but once the story gets going, it's excellent. The art is dynamic and beautiful. There are so many more manga like this from the 1970s, if only Vertical would translate more of them.

For your reading pleasure, Vertical, Inc. has released yet another classic manga, from yet another big time creator, about yet another utopian society gone horribly wrong.

In a future where mankind finds a new home in other planets, parental guidance goes out the window when a new social order controls the upbringing of children to wipe out corruption and moral decay. Jomy Marcus Shin, a lively 14 year old, struggles with doubts about entering adult society. When the "Maturity Check" that would decide Jomy's fate goes wrong, he is suddenly captured by the Mu, a race of mutant psychics created and oppressed by humanity. When the Mu choose Jomy as their new leader, he must accept his role--and control his own psychic abilities--in order to lead the Mu to Terra (Earth), their ancestral home.

This three-volume series covers a lot of ground, not only dealing with the main character, but also with the trials of several other characters, each one more interesting than the last. And because "To Terra" is no quick read, the reader may either feel lost or stop reading out of frustration over the pace. Once you take your time, though, you will lose yourself in the laughter, the tears, the excitement and the drama only a storyteller of Keiko Takeyima's caliber can deliver.

This comic is unrated: Violence, Adult Situations.

I don't read manga aside from Tezuka, Tatsumi, and Yokoyama, but I gave this a try because Vertical-inc put it out and assumed that it would be decent at worst. It was so uninteresting and cliche that I literally felt I was punishing myself by finishing it. Maybe its geared toward a younger audience, but I really did not enjoy it and put it down without even finishing it.